Understanding the rapid reduction of undernutrition in Nepal, 2001–2011

South Asia has long been synonymous with unusually high rates of undernutrition. In the past decade, however, Nepal has arguably achieved the fastest recorded decline in child stunting in the world and has done so in the midst of civil war and post-conflict political instability. Given recent interest in reducing undernutrition – particularly the role of nutrition-sensitive policies – this paper aims to quantitatively understand this surprising success story by analyzing the 2001, 2006, and 2011 rounds of Nepal’s Demographic Health Surveys. To do so, the authors construct models of the intermediate determinants of child and maternal nutritional change and then decompose predicted changes in nutrition outcomes over time. Four broad drivers of change are identified: asset accumulation, health and nutrition interventions, maternal educational gains, and improvements in sanitation. Many of these changes were clearly influenced by policy decisions, including increased public investments in health and education and community-led health and sanitation campaigns. Other factors, such as rapid growth in migration-based remittances, are more a reflection of household responses to changing political and economic circumstances.

Search Document Library

You may also be interested in

This was an extensive query to tackle in 3 days. The result is an annotated bibliography covering a selection of key papers identified through a rapid search on the different nutrition interventions. Section 2 includes a number of resources on community-based management with evaluations finding it to be cost effective. Sections 3-5 are on breastfeeding,… Read more

Steve Lewis from RESULTS reports on events in New York at the UN General Assembly In September I marched with over 300,000 people in New York, protesting against Climate Change and the weak global response so far. But why was I marching on an environment issue when my work with RESULTS is to manage health… Read more

About HEART

HEART is a consortium of leading organisations in international development, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, and social protection. We work together to support the use of evidence and expert advice in policy-making.

HEART helps time-pressured decision-makers better understand, interpret and apply evidence. Our knowledge and consultancy services are tailored to support policy decisions and we respond rapidly to requests for assistance as they arise.